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“Morning,” he says, his voice low and intimate. His gaze flicks to Ramon. “Hey, Ramon.”
I blink. What is this? Did he just use Ramon’s first name? Am I…rubbing off on him?
He stands in front of me, and my heart pounds, as though I’m seeing him for the first time. His eyes roam my face. “You have sugar on your lip.”
His expression tells me that if we were alone, he’d lick it off himself, but apparently he’s not so reformed that he’ll indulge in a PDA.
I lick it off, deliberately slowly, and his eyes narrow.
“How was your night?” he asks, leaning against the counter and studying me.
Damn. Damn him for being so appealing. For not judging me for going out, for offering to clean up after dinner last night so I could go get ready. For not acting suspicious or jealous. For just being…
Likable.
Lovable.
“Pam told me you were a ladies’ man,” I blurt out.
He laughs. “What?”
Yeah, what? This is random, even for me. I blame the extra glass of champagne.
I take a big bite of donut and then set it on the napkin on the front desk, feeling embarrassed, not just by the telling proclamation but by the fact that Ramon’s right there. “Can we talk for a sec?”
Andrew nods and starts to guide me toward the seating area on the far side of the lobby.
“Wait, my donut,” I protest.
“Ridiculous,” he mutters. But he picks up the donut, along with a couple of extra napkins.
“Now,” he says as he sits beside me on an uncomfortable love seat, out of Ramon’s hearing, “what’s the matter?”
“I don’t know,” I mutter, fiddling with the napkin.
“Don’t know, or don’t want to tell me?”
“Are you really a genius?” I ask.
His head snaps back slightly. “I see you and Pam had quite the chat.”
I nod. “Quite. She said you were deadly smart.”
“She exaggerates.”
“But you skipped two grades. That’s a really high level of nerd-dom, Andy. Where do you rank next to Einstein?”
His eyes narrow on me slightly. “Is this really what’s bothering you? My IQ?”
“Does it bother you?”
Andrew shrugged. “I was a smart kid. Took me a while to grow into my brain, but I’d like to think I ditched at least some of the awkwardness.”
I give him a sympathetic look and pat his cheek.
He grabs my hand, kisses my palm. “Tell me what’s up. Really.”
Hmm. Perceptive. He really has grown out of his awkwardness. And yet…
